Things More Important
by roamingwyoming
Summary: Sanji makes Zoro a promise.


**_Here we go, my first One Piece fanfiction. It's a bit dark, and not really slash, but I'm still sort of proud of it. Took about two days to write._**

**_And I have no beta. Nor do I particularly want one at this time. Thus, be prepared for some mistakes. There's only so many times I can reread a story. I also apologize for any major formatting errors. removed all my apostrophes and quotes when I uploaded this. But I'm trying to fix that._**

**_Read and enjoy! Review if you like._**

"Shitty swordsman, watch where you aim those things!" Sanji nimbly leapt out of the way of Zoro's deadly blades, lashing out with a powerful kick as he did so. His foot connected with the jaw of a marine. Sanji crouched down and swept out a leg, tripping up several more before the first had even hit the ground.

Behind him, Zoro was lost in his own world, his mind focused solely on slicing through anything that got in his way. He merely grunted at Sanji's insult, having little room to reply around the sword clenched between his teeth. Dancing to his own unique rhythm, he charged at the two marines in front of him, only to sidestep them both at the last second. He spun around, swords flashing; they both went rigid as the katanas pierced their backs. Zoro was pitched forward as something hit him from behind, but he immediately ducked into a roll, pinning the marine beneath him. A simple twist of his head, and Zoro had effectively slashed through his enemy's throat. He jumped up from the now slack grip and turned to face the next wave.

Both men sighed at what was once again another pointless and oh so annoying battle. The story was the same as always: an island was spotted, Luffy decided to explore it, and somewhere along the line, they managed to run into _these_ guys. There wasn't much on the island except for a small collection of villages. They had been relatively close together, no more than a mile in between each of the six, and the decision to split up and explore each village simultaneously had seemed like a fairly good plan.

At the time.

They had all agreed to meet back at the central village before dark, and somehow the love-cook and marimo-head had managed to converge at some point along the way. They traded taunts back and forth for a short time, until the clouds decided to open up and start raining. A few misty drops had soon turned into a slight drizzle, which quickly worked its way up to the current state the weather was in: nothing less than a torrential downpour was now beating down upon the two pirates. The marines had decided to attack while the companions were schlepping across the soaked ground. They caught the two unawares on a small expanse of grass, sneaking down the surrounding slopes and hillsides until they were close enough to attack. Fighting inevitably ensued, leading to the situation at hand.

Sanji spared a quick glance around, noticing the quickly diminishing numbers. Four in front of himself, none to the sides, which left any remaining marines directly in front of Zoro's wrath. He dropped to the ground once again, palms below him as he kicked upward. Two hits to two jaws, resulting in two broken necks. The last two, scrabbling for the guns at their belts, were knocked out cold as Sanji deftly kicked their heads together. He straightened up, intent on watching Zoro finish his battle, but was thrown forward by a sudden weight slamming into his back. He stumbled forward, his ears ringing, as if...

Sanji's eyes widened in realization, but he was already turning to meet the attack, survival instincts kicking back in. Zoro's dead weight fell as he twisted his body around, drawing a leg up to disarm his opponent. A second resounding peal shot off, the bullet nearly skimming the side of Sanji's head. The move was too fast for the marine to follow: the gun was kicked out of his hand, immediately followed through with another to his temple. He hit the ground, unconscious as all the others were. Sanji stood for a moment, gazing down in shock at his fallen teammate before kneeling at his side.

Blood had already soaked through a good portion of the white shirt, though Sanji could tell it wasn't going to stop flowing anytime soon. The shirt itself was sporting a large hole, just near the heart, remnants of black powder just visible...

Point blank in the chest. That bastard.

Although seething at the mere thought of marines in general, Sanji knew there were more pressing matters at hand. He reached over with shaking hands and gingerly eased the katana from between Zoro's clenched teeth.

Zoro gasped as his bit was taken away, screwing his eyes shut in a vain attempt to ward off the burning pain in his chest. He wanted to mentally kick himself for getting shot, but he decided to save it for after he got out of the woods. Vaguely aware that his other two katanas were now gone and that someone was untying his bandana, he forced his eyes open to see who his caretaker was.

Sanji.

_Of course it's Sanji, you idiot! It's not like anyone else is around to..._

"SHIT!" Zoro yelped out a cry of pain as Sanji suddenly pressed down on his wound, _hard._ He was reduced to a few moments of undignified moans and whimpers before he managed to gasp out a question in the form of, "What the _hell_ is wrong with you!"

Sanji, for his part, had the decency to take on the look of a kicked puppy. Zoro almost felt bad for him, _almost_, but there was still that damned throbbing pain in his chest.

"I need to stop the bleeding," mumbled Sanji quietly. "If I dont, you could..." He trailed off, not wanting to speak the possibility that they both knew anyway. He noticed Zoro lean his head back into the soft ground, heard the sudden hitch in his breath...

"Hey! HEY! Zoro! Snap out of it!" Sanji wasn't very relieved when all he got in return was a soft groan. He looked down at the nihility of his attempt at stemming the blood flow, cursed, and instead shifted around so he was kneeling by Zoro's head.

He reached down, intending to slap some sense into his comrade, before catching sight of his own bloodied palms. Sanji wiped them on the wet grass with a sneer before reaching out and taking Zoro's face in his hands. He slapped him lightly, once, twice, before he began to panic.

"Marimo, wake up! Come on, open your damn eyes already. Shitty swordsman, can't even... Zoro!" A hard slap managed to rouse Zoro just a bit, and he raised his eyes blearily to the upside-down face that was staring down at him.

At least the rain was now out of his eyes.

Zoro started to drift again before another stinging slap brought him an inch closer to reality. He thought for a few moments, dully realizing that he couldn't feel the pain in his chest. He couldn't feel much of anything, really. It was this realization that had Zoro struggling to pull himself back into the real world, at least enough to make Sanji stop bleating in his ear. Looking down at his chest and seeing the dark crimson made a single thought flare up in his mind: he had lost.

There were no thoughts of dying, or even of somehow surviving this ordeal and making some sort of a recovery. There was only the thought that he had failed.

Roronoa Zoro, world-renowned pirate hunter turned pirate, the man destined to be the greatest swordsman in the world, had failed. Failed himself, failed everyone around him...

Failed her...

"Come on Zoro, d-dont do this to me, not now, not now..." Sanji groaned in despair as Zoro began to close his eyes again. As much as Sanji always fought and bickered with the other man, he never actually hated him. Far from it, in fact. Sanji enjoyed to spars they had together, valued any small compliments that might be thrown his way, completely trusted the man that always seemed to have his back during a fight, and generally loved Zoro like he was his own brother.

Sanji pressed his eyes shut as he felt hot tears rolling down his cheeks, at this point not even caring about himself. The only thing that mattered right now was that the closest thing he had to a best friend was dying before his very eyes, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He choked down a pitiful whimper and opened his eyes again, only to find Zoro staring hazily back at him.

"Mihawk won." Sanji blinked. The man was laying there dying, and all he could think about was...

Sanji growled, suddenly wishing to kick the marimo-head to the Going Merry and back. Frustrated at Zoro's single-mindedness and yet galled at his own wish to harm the fatally wounded man, Sanji settled for sighing and softly taunting his companion.

"What kind of swordsman are you, huh? Giving up at a time like this..." Zoro lazily blinked up at him, vaguely trying to tune in to Sanji's words.

"You've been through worse than this. We both have! You don't see me giving up now, do you?"

_Shitty cook. Thinking he can get away with this... "_You're not the one with a gaping hole in your chest," Zoro grunted. His words, few and pointless as they were, caused Sanji to smile a bit.

"A minor setback." Sanji smiled a bit more as Zoro rolled his eyes. "Really though, after all you've been through... All the training, all the battles, the narrow escapes... It can't all be for nothing, can it?"

Zoro swallowed back the despair that Sanji's words brought to mind. "I'm doing the best I can here, but I really don't think-" His words were cut off by a gasp as his breath hitched again. He began coughing, trying in vain to turn on his side. He was a little more than grateful as Sanji came to his rescue.

Silence ensued as Sanji watched his friend calm back down. One hand was firmly clutching Zoro's arm, futilely trying to keep him anchored in this realm. Sanji let his other hand reach down to run through Zoro's hair.

Zoro gasped at the contact, wondering what in the hell the cook was doing, before shrugging off the awkwardness and welcoming the soothing motion. The simple rhythm of Sanji's fingers combing through his hair began to take affect. Zoro felt his eyes begin to close before Sanji spoke up again.

"He didn't win. And it doesn't all have to be for nothing." He felt the soothing motion stop, although Sanji kept his fingers buried in Zoro's hair. He looked up at the determined yet slightly distant look etched across the cook's face, and wondered what he was talking about.

"I've watched you train, watched you fight... Hell, even fought against you before." Sanji looked down and met Zoro's confused eyes, taking time to gather his thoughts before continuing his story.

"I know your techniques, your style, your moves." Zoro continued to gaze up at the man sitting behind him, slowly realizing where Sanji's train of thought was leading.

"Sanji... you can't," he softly stated. "What about finding All Blue? What are you going to do about cooking? If something happ-"

"It doesn't matter!" Sanji choked out. The tears were starting up again. "You've been training all your life, and... and you came so close! One person stood between you and your dream. Just one! If he were to be defeated... You'd be the greatest swordsman, Zoro." Sanji took a few deeps breaths, trying to calm down before finishing. "The greatest..."

"I'll defeat Mihawk. I'll defeat him so you can be the greatest swordsman in the world, so you can complete your dreams. It hasn't all been in vain, and you haven't failed. I'll make sure of that." Sanji leaned down close to Zoro, once again taking his face in his hands and looking him straight in the eye. "I promise."

Zoro stared wordlessly up at Sanji, those two little words bringing up memories of his oh so painful childhood. They had made a promise to each other, a promise that one of them would become the greatest swords master in the world. In the end, fate had left it up to Zoro to fulfill that promise. And now Sanji...

Using the last of his waning strength, Zoro pushed himself up, turning around to face Sanji. Before the other man could protest, Zoro pulled the cook forwards, clutching him to his own bloodied chest. He didn't know what else to do. Sanji, the self-centered, love sick puppy who seemed to care about nothing but women, had just made a promise to Zoro, a promise that Zoro himself had made so many years ago, and was now breaking. Sanji was giving up his owns dreams, or at the very least postponing them, just for him.

What do you say to something like that?

Sanji was a bit shocked to find himself being embraced by the swordsman, but was far from complaining. He quickly returned the gesture, arms wound tight around Zoro's neck, knowing that these really were the last few moments he had with the man.

They sat like that for awhile longer, holding each other until the time came. Even then, Sanji wouldn't let go of the man to whom he had made a promise. A promise to fulfil the dreams that Zoro had spent so much time trying to reach. However, Sanji knew that he couldn't just stay like this. Even as he looked up, he saw more marines clambering over the hilltops, quickly bearing down on their position.

He pulled back from his hold on Zoro, gently lowering him back to the wet ground. Sanji was mere inches from Zoro's face, staring transfixed at him, soaking in every detail so as to always remember exactly who he was fighting for. Hearing a not-so-distant yell, he removed the slack grip from around his waist and neatly crossed Zoros arms over his chest.

Sanji forced himself to tear his eyes away, knowing that he couldn't allow himself to be killed by the marines. He had a promise to keep. Reaching an arm out, his fingers curled around the hilt of the white katana, and he stood to face the oncoming foe, sword at his side.

The weight felt so unnatural in his hand, so restricting, so burdening. Lifting it up in front of him, he now latched on to the hilt with both hands, taking a few experimental swings at the rain. The technique was far from the three sword santoryu Zoro had developed, but at least it was a start.

Adopting a fighting stance and clutching the sword tightly, Sanji prepared himself to take on the marines. "I'll do this for you Zoro," he stated to his fallen comrade. "I promise."

The first clash of sword against flesh sent a painful shock running up Sanji's arms, but he turned to meet the next opponent, finding another wave of pain coursing up his limbs. By the time the sixth marine went down, Sanji could already feel his hands being rubbed raw by the awkward grip on the katana. But none of that mattered. The only thing Sanji was concerned about was keeping his promise. The only thing he cared about right now was doing this for Zoro.

_My own dreams be damned._

_Some things are just more important._


End file.
